OU vs. Texas Gameday Blog

By Athletics Communications

University of Oklahoma

OCTOBER 13, 2008

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2:37 p.m. | Heartbreaker for the Sooners Final score: No. 5 Texas 45, No. 1 Oklahoma
35.
2:21 p.m. | Big Blow by the Longhorns After that scoring drive by Texas, sparked
by a 37-yard run by running back Jordan Shipley, the
Sooners are going to have to come up with some magic
in the final few minutes.
2:14 p.m. | Officially a Nailbiter I don't know about those of you at home, but
it's tough to sit down for this one. There's definitely
not anyone sitting in the Cotton Bowl. Not to state
the obvious, but the Sooners need a big stop on defense.

1:59 p.m. | Red River Records for Sam Sam Bradford's five touchdown passes today
is a new Red River Rivalry record. The previous high
was four TD passes by Jason White in 2003. Bradford's
325 passing yards are also the most ever by an Oklahoma
quarterback vs. Texas. Quarterbacks coach Josh Heupel
previously held the OU team record with 311 yards in
the 1999 game. In that same game, Texas' Major Applewhite
threw for 328 yards, which stands as the series record
for most passing yards in a game on either side.
1:52 p.m. | Clutch Drive That was a huge drive by the Sooners to take
the lead back. OU converted a number of clutch third-down
plays along the way.
1:40 p.m. | Barn Burner in the Making Oklahoma is driving as the game goes to the
fourth quarter. The Sooners are down by two. Needless
to say, no one has left the stadium and TV ratings
for this game are heading higher.

1:33 p.m. | First Time Behind With the go-ahead field goal by the Longhorns,
Oklahoma trails for the first time all season.

1:26 p.m. | Ground Yards Tough Both offenses are having a hard time gaining
any traction on the ground. Oklahoma has been held
to 15 yards on 14 rushes while Texas has just five
yards on 18 attempts.

1:18 p.m. | Texas DrivingTexas is driving toward the OU side of the
stadium here in the third quarter. With the fans divided
down the 50, the game is loud nearly every play. With
the addition of the fans in the new upper decks in
both end zones, the noise seems even more deafening
from the field, if that was possible. The Sooners will
be driving toward the more-friendly end zone in the
final quarter.

1:08 p.m. | Sooners 27 for 27 in Red Zone The latest touchdown makes Oklahoma's offense
a perfect 27 of 27 in the red zone this season. The
Sooners have scored an amazing 26 touchdown to one
field goal in that span.

1:07 p.m. | Touchdown Sooners Oklahoma scores to widen the lead to 28-20
with a third-down strike from Sam Bradford to Manny
Johnson.

12:59 p.m. | Just Announced: 92,182It's now official. Just prior to the start
of the second half, the PA inside the press box announced
an official attendance of 92,182. Below is the new
top five biggest crowds to see the Sooners play:

For a complete list of OU football attendance records,
visit this
page.

12:53 p.m. | Perfect in the Red Zone Both teams are making the most of their red
zone opportunities so far in this one. At the half,
the teams are a combined 5-for-5 when they have been
in the red zone (OU 2-2, Texas 3-3).
12:44 p.m. | Points Aplenty With both offenses holding the upper hand
in the first half, it's shaping up to be a shootout
here in the Cotton Bowl. You can't ask for much more
from a fan perspective.

12:39 p.m. | For Your Halftime Entertainment We thought you might enjoy a little history
lesson: With the Red River Rivalry traditionally played
during the first part of October, Oklahoma and Texas
have met on this same date 10 times. The last time
the two teams met on this date was 2003, when the Sooners
posted the most lopsided victory in the history of
the series, a 65-13 rout. View highlights of the 2003
contest, in addition to other OU-Texas
classics, in this release we posted earlier in
the week.

12:36 p.m. | Ride the Wave
You hear it all the time from OU's coaches and players:
There will be momentum changes throughout the course
of a big game like this, you just have to ride the
wave and not get too high or too low. After a couple
of big plays by the Texas offense on that last drive,
the defense did a good job of buckling down and holding
the Longhorns to a field goal. I'm sure the wave philosophy
will continue to be preached in the locker room during
halftime: OU 21, Texas 20.

12:24 p.m. | Just for Decoration
We've received a few emails regarding the thin bands
you see many of today's players wearing on their arms.
The bands are simply called "bicep bands".
They are part of a new fad in football but serve no
real purpose other than decoration. The trend began
a few years back when a number of NFL players started
manually trimming down their sweatbands to a narrow
strip. Nike and other sporting goods companies quickly
caught on and began marketing the popular bands you
see today.

12:10 p.m. | Making Amends
Jermaine Gresham makes up for the last touchdown he
missed out on with that 52-yard dash to the end zone.
Good to see Gresham back to his big play habit against
the Longhorns. He scored twice in last year's Texas
game. 2007
OU-Texas Highlights

11:59 a.m. | Bradford's Feverish Pace With his two touchdown passes thus far, Sam
Bradford has set an NCAA record for most touchdown
passes by a quarterback in their freshman and sophomore
seasons with 56. Bradford broke Rex Grossman's (Florida)
previous NCAA mark of 55 in his first two years with
the Gators (2000-2001). And we're not even halfway
through his sophomore campaign yet. Wow!

11:56 a.m. | Right Place, Right Time How about the concentration by Ryan Broyles
on the touchdown catch? While Jermaine Gresham was
unable to haul it in, if there was an assist statistic
in football, he would surely be credited with one.
11:47 a.m. | QB ObservationsJust an early observation from the press box
but Sam Bradford seems to have much more time to throw
compared to Colt McCoy's experience in the first quarter.
Kudos so far to the OU offensive and defensive lines.

11:39 a.m. | Enemy Territory The tunnel and video screen at the Cotton
Bowl cut into seating on the Oklahoma side of the stadium.
As a result, two islands of crimson float in a sea
of burnt orange on the Texas side of the stadium to
make the number of seats equal. The lower seats are
way too close to Bevo but the upper seats have a commanding
view of the field (and downtown Dallas behind them).

11:35 a.m. | A.D., Again AT&T just ran a commercial on the ABC
broadcast of the game with an All-America flashback
of Sooner running back Adrian Peterson. Nice to see
A.D. in crimson at the OU-Texas game -- if only for
a short commercial.

11:21 a.m. | Full House We're expecting an official attendance figure
later in the game but this place is packed. A number
more than 92,000 is expected. It will be the largest
crowd ever to watch the Sooners play in stadium. The
previous largest crowd was 88,119 on September 24,
1977, vs. Ohio State in Columbus. You remember "The
Kick", don't you?

11:15 a.m. | Touchdown Sooners! Eight plays, 2:43 and the Sooners are in the
end zone. Sam Bradford pass to Manny Johnson. Oklahoma
has scored on every opening drive this season.

11:12 a.m. | Let's Rumble We just returned to the press box after collecting
video of the teams taking the field. It's OU vs. Texas,
2008.

10:37 a.m. | Favorite GameDay Signs We made it over to the ESPN GameDay set for
a little bit but were unable to see many of the signs
from the perimeter. What were some of your favorite
signs today? Email
us and we'll post some of the best ones later on
in the day.
10:19 a.m. | Teams Take the Field Both teams are now on the field stretching
and going through their pregame routines. Fans on both
sides are starting to file in. It won't be long now.
9:44 a.m. | The Pride Marches Through Sounds of Boomer Sooner resound throughout
Fair Park as the Oklahoma marching band arrives at
the stadium and marches down the tunnel to their seats
behind the South end zone.

9:01 a.m. | Sooners Arrive The Oklahoma team buses roll up to the stadium,
greeted by a large contingent of Sooner faithful. Flashes
of upside down horns and shouts of "Boomer Sooner" drown
out anyone wearing orange.
8:56 a.m. | Schooner Rolls ThroughExcitement is brewing for OU fans, as the
Schooner just rolled up the street to the Cotton Bowl.
The Sooners will be here shortly.

8:46 a.m. | Longhorns ArriveThe Texas team buses are the first to arrive
at the Cotton Bowl this morning via Martin Luther King,
Jr. Blvd.

8:37 a.m. | Howdy Folks!
Welcome to the SoonerSports.com Gameday Blog. Throughout
the day, you can view commentary from our staff, observations
from the field at Cotton Bowl Stadium, notes from the
media relations staff in the press box and fan
emails and reaction during the game.

8:02 a.m. | Oklahoma vs. Texas
The top-ranked Sooners battle rival and No. 5-ranked
Texas at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on Saturday at 11
a.m. An overflow crowd of 92,000 in the newly-expanded
stadium will be joined by an ABC television audience
for the 2008 Red River Rivalry.

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